ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 11 – EARLY LIGHT, AND DEW

 

 

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I walk back home most early mornings along a road lined with big cars and big, comfortable, middle class dwellings.  These houses are on my right, to the east of me, with – on clear days –  the autumn sun rising behind them.

There are big areas of shadow where the houses block the sun’s light, but the driveways between these semi-detached houses are ablaze with the early light, with most of the cars pointing directly into it.  There’s a lot of contrast and some blazing reflections, but looking carefully and using the TG-5’s 100mm telephoto and its spot meter, there are areas like this, with the sunlight glancing almost horizontally across the cars’ dew-soaked bodywork and illuminating every surface feature, texture and tiny drop of moisture.  Walking past these cars never fails to draw my gaze.

The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles.  Earlier Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 . 

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.  

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 03 profile; south Bristol; 14 Sept 2020.
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ARCHIVE: LOOKING AT CARS 10 – RUSH HOUR, RED LIGHT

 

 

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Red light in the rush hour:  queuing traffic, frustration, cold winter sunshine.

The Looking at Cars series: looking back through the nine years of the FATman Photos archives (and some new images too), I’m posting pictures of cars in various contexts and styles.  Earlier Looking at Cars posts are here: 1 (with context); 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 . 

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.  

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 300mm (equiv); Lightroom; Bristol Bridge, central Bristol; 11 Nov 2016.

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ARCHIVE KENYA 84 – SOMETIME EARLIER IN THE WORLD

 

 

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Sunrise at the mouth of the Njoro River at Lake Nakuru, Kenya; Jan 1978.

Early morning mists rise above the lake and, as the sun appears, everything is flooded by warm, golden light – a scene seemingly from long ago in the world that has always fascinated me.  Here is something primeval, here we are an irrelevance.

The gaunt skeletons of trees out in the lake are Yellow-barked Acacias that were killed as the lake’s soda-rich waters rose up around them.

There are two types of birds here.  Those holding their wings out to dry, and those perching on the dead trees, and those very faintly seen bottom right, are Cormorants – the same species as found in Europe.  The dark scrum of larger birds at the lake’s edge are White Pelicans – one great head and neck can be seen as, preening, a bird reaches deep into its plumage.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.  

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: tripod-mounted OM-2 with 400mm Vivitar; Agfa CT 18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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OUTER SUBURBS 279 – MORNING SUNLIGHT ON GRASS

 

 

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Standing on a lawn, beside a fence, as the sun rose.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.  

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 46mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 01 profile; south Bristol; 27 Aug 2020.
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ARCHIVE 564 – LOOKING INTO A BUILDING AT NIGHT

 

 

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Offices with the lights on, empty in the early morning; beside Bristol Bridge, central Bristol; 16 Sept 2016.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: X-T1 with 55-200 Fujinon lens at 305mm (equiv); 3,200 ISO.

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OUTER SUBURBS 278 – CABLE TV

 

 

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Cable TV inspection cover set in a pavement >>> a scene that I walk over most days >>> but on this day lit by the low angle light of the rising sun.

Towards lower left, starting from nearest the cover, are the pavement’s pale kerbstones, the road’s slightly less pale gutter, and the more roughly textured road surface.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.  

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 61mm (equiv); 800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Modern 03 profile; south Bristol; 8 Aug 2020.
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OUTER SUBURBS 277 – EARLY MORNING 12

 

 

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The early morning, the sun still just below the horizon, and an object of great beauty in the clear sky up above – an aircraft’s contrail caught in the very first of the rising sun’s rays.

I wanted to relate this spectacle to structures on the ground, and so got in close beside a lamp post and tree on one side, and the reflective windows of a house on the other – and so to this shot.

But now, down in the back roads of my mind, whenever I look at this picture I see the contrail watched by a host of upturned and enthralled, hirsute heads, looking up from below.  What am I on?  Whatever it is, must get some more …  🙂

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.  

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: TG-5 at 100mm (equiv);  800 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 5 Sep 2020.
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ARCHIVE KENYA 82 – KILIMANJARO

 

 

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Sunrise touching Mt Kilimanjaro: the view from Amboseli Game Reserve in southwest Kenya; Nov 1977.

At over 19,000 feet, this is Africa’s highest mountain and snow can be seen around the top.  But both the snow and the glaciers there may be gone within a few decades – they are melting fast.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window – recommended.

Technique: OM-1 with 75-150 Zuiko at 150mm lens; Agfa CT 18 colour slide film, rated at 64 ISO.

THE ARCHIVE KENYA SERIES

I’m re-posting photographs that I took in Kenya over 30 years ago.  You can find more context here .  Click onto the “Archive Kenya” tag (below) to see more of these film images from Kenya.

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ARCHIVE 561 – EARLY MORNING GARDEN 1

 

 

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Leaf on our Hazel tree; 24 June 2013.

The black elements in this photo have a vague upper left to lower right (or vice versa!) orientation, which produces something of a dynamic maybe.  And I like the leaf’s serrated periphery.

But most of all I enjoyed the cool, peaceful stillness of the garden early on this overcast morning – the grove of Cowslips gone to seed, some new Badger holes, and everything generally running riot, certainly heading to something like jungle unless I intervene.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: D700 with 105mm Nikkor lens; 12,800 ISO.

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OUTER SUBURBS 276 – THE LIGHT STARTS TO RETURN …

 

 

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The early mornings darken, the light becomes softer and more attractive, and I start to anticipate the first thin mists and slight but certain chills of autumn.

Click onto the “early morning” tag (below) to see more images from the early hours of the day.

Click onto the image to open a larger version in a separate window.

Technique: TG-5 at 85mm (equiv); 400 ISO; spot metering; Lightroom, starting at the Camera Vivid profile; south Bristol; 31 Aug 2020.

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